Yoshi's First Word
by Frank Toadfish
Summary: Julian decides to help out Keiko by looking after Yoshi. Set around just after Time's Orphan, Season 6.


You know that I don't own anything to do with Star Trek, just a lot of free time that I should be spending on coursework and revision, and a rather old laptop. But hey. And apologies are to be said for any Keiko fans, I don't deliberately make her attitude the way it is in my fanfics on purpose, I promise.

...

**Keiko walked uncomfortably from the docking bay into the corridor, weighed down with bags of traveling clothes and plant specimens, and Yoshi, who was crying noisily. Monday mornings and Mrs O'Brien did not go together well.**

**As Keiko moved her arm in attempt to soothe her son, one of her many bags slipped off her shoulder and crashed to the floor, the jagged sound of breaking glass audible in the nearly deserted corridor.**

**Doctor Bashir was humming a song from his latest holosuite program to himself as he wandered down one of the brightly lit passageways, happy to have a few hours off duty. With his best friend busy, and the holosuites all booked, Julian had nothing else that he wanted to do, so the next best thing he could think of was to take a casual stroll through the station and see where he ended up.**

**Turning the corner to the transport docking area, Julian saw his best friend's wife on the verge of tears, sat on the floor with Kirayoshi, looking at a smashed glass vase. Yoshi was wailing and struggling in his mother's grasp, confused and distressed.**

**Keiko glanced upwards towards the doctor, sighed miserably, and then burst out crying herself. As she set down Yoshi onto the carpet, Doctor Bashir ran over to her, and pulled her into an awkward hug.**

"**Hey, it's OK," he tried to reassure her, but Keiko tensed, and Julian stopped hugging her.**

"**It's not OK, _Julian_," she glared, picking up Yoshi from the carpeted floor, who was still crying noisily. "That vase was a present for my mother. And do you know what else? I've got no more work on Bajor for another six months. Plus, Miles has gone on a trip with Molly, and I'll don't know when they'll be back!"**

"**I know," said Julian, and Keiko gave him an icy look. "About Miles, I mean," he added. "Not your...problems." Yoshi wailed again, and the doctor had a sudden inspiration.**

"**May I make a suggestion?" Julian asked Keiko. She looked at him.**

"**You're going to tell me, as my doctor, that I need to get some rest, aren't you?" she said, annoyed. "Unlike you, Julian, I have children to look after, so the answer is no."**

**Julian smiled. "Actually, I was going to suggest that _I_ look after Yoshi, so you can relax for a bit. I'm a fully qualified doctor, so your son is in safe hands, I assure you." Keiko's bitterness towards the doctor seemed to ease as she nodded, and stood up. She passed Yoshi to the doctor, who took him in one arm, and grinned.**

"**Be careful," Keiko warned him, and gathered up her bags, putting the remains of the vase into one of them. Julian waved with his free hand as the Chief's wife walked down the corridor and out of sight, and looked down at Yoshi.**

**The O'Briens' baby looked up at the face that his father knew so well. He stopped crying, and stared. Bashir chuckled.**

"**You are _so_ like Miles. That was his first reaction to me as well."**

*** * ***

**The doctor laughed as Yoshi picked up one of the baby toys he had replicated for him, and shook it wildly.**

"**I'm guessing Worf taught you that?" Julian smiled. He picked up a cloth elephant that he had also replicated, and gave it to Yoshi. The baby frowned, and dropped it onto the floor.**

"**You don't like elephants?" Bashir asked him, and Yoshi mumbled something in his infant language. "You do?"**

**Yoshi mumbled again, and pointed with his chubby hand towards Bashir's cabinet. Julian looked round, and saw Kukalaka.**

"**Oh, no. Not my teddy bear," he said, and Yoshi's face began to crumple. Bashir looked from his teddy bear, and then back to his best friend's son, who looked unhappy.**

"**Oh, alright," he gave in. "But if anything happens, I'll tell your daddy." Julian reluctantly got Kukalaka, and put the bear in Yoshi's hands. Miles and Keiko's baby gurgled happily, and started to chew on the stuffed bear's ear. Bashir winced.**

**Trying not to look at Kukalaka, Julian tried to think of something else instead.**

"**I hope your dad teaches you racquetball when you're older," he said to Yoshi. "He's really quite good at it." Yoshi gurgled again in reply, his attention focused on the teddy bear he was chewing on.**

"**And as for darts," Julian went on. "If I wasn't genetically enhanced, he could beat me blindfolded. He's amazing." He sighed. "Garak is _nothing_ compared to him."**

"**Garak," Yoshi said, detaching himself from Bashir's teddy bear.**

"**What did you just say?" Julian gasped.**

"**Garak!" Yoshi repeated. His eyes closed, and then he was asleep. The doctor stood still, open mouthed.**

"**Garak??" He swore. "Miles is going to kill me..."**


End file.
